While it’s entirely possible that I misinterpreted the fine print, based on my understanding of the founding documents around Lord Stanley’s Cup, the Ottawa Senators are now the reigning league Champions.
They beat the two-time Cup Champs in such a convincing fashion on Saturday that the Tampa Bay Lightning have little choice but to hand it over.
So while we wait for our expansion cousins to do the right thing and as the Senators get set to kick off a three-game road trip, perhaps this is a good time to cobble together a long overdue edition of Monday News and Notes.
Barely any news and fairly lean on notes but it sure as shit is Monday.
Oh hang on. I’m being told it is in fact, Tuesday.
Here goes…
-Spending millions of dollars on veteran leadership is sort of an inevitable part of a rebuild. There comes a time when that core of young talent needs to be surrounded by guys that have been through the grind of a long NHL season and more importantly, know what it takes to win when it’s all on the line. Usually that money is spent at the NHL level though. With the weekend news that off-season acquisition Michael Del Zotto is now on his way to Belleville, the Ottawa Senators are now spending about $6 million dollars on veteran leadership at the AHL level. It’s obviously not what Pierre Dorion had in mind when he brought those two guys in over the last couple summers but it’s a pretty clear indication that the organization is willing to admit mistakes. Del Zotto cleared waivers over the weekend and with another year left on his deal, it’s clear that he’s going to need to play well down there to grab the attention of another NHL team. We’ll see how it plays out from here.
-Raise your hand if you had Anton Forsberg grabbing the net during the team’s best stretch of the season. Okay, if you raised your hand, please put it down now you big liar. At the ripe ol’ age of 29, Forsberg is playing some of the best hockey of his career and giving the Senators a chance to win every night. Four straight wins including the first shutout of his NHL career against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Not bad at all. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Sens navigate the goaltending situation the rest of the way. While Forsberg has been playing some of his best hockey of the year, Filip Gustavsson has struggled, giving up 20 goals in his last four starts. Gustvasson has shown signs of being ready to push for an everyday starter’s job at the NHL level but at some point, he’ll need to find a way to get his game back on track. And the AHL may be the best place for him to figure it out.
-Stop me if you’ve heard this one before- there are once again rumours about the state of Sens Ownership. Okay, rumours may be a stretch. It may be mostly spinning off from that offhand remark from a Canucks reporter a couple weeks back and the re-hiring of Erin Crowe as Executive Vice-President and CFO, but there is definitely a noticeable increase in what we’ll call, chatter, around what Eugene Melnyk may have in mind over the next couple months. Certainly wouldn’t blame anyone that chooses to just tune out the speculation until something of substance materializes but yea, definitely more “talk” of late.
-So Jacob Bernard-Docker is in Ottawa and it appears as though his chance to show what he can do is just around the corner. But that’s certainly not the impression you’d get if you spent some time on Sens Twitter yesterday. JBD was in and out of a regular spot at practice, casting some doubt on his status heading into the game against the Panthers. This is of course, a fairly textbook overreaction from the online community. While DJ Smith did make reference to an internal shift of sorts and a focus on development the rest of the way, that doesn’t mean they now need to get JBD in as soon as possible. The team is coming off their best game of the season and sticking with the same lineup would be perfectly acceptable in this situation. It doesn’t mean they hate JBD, it doesn’t mean they are trying to ruin his development and it doesn’t mean they lied when they said the focus has shifted. Bernard-Docker will get in soon and in the meantime, he’ll get a few NHL practices under his belt and be ready when the time comes. This may come as a surprise but the Ottawa Senators care more about Bernard-Docker’s development than any of us.
-As much as we’re all trying to ignore the inevitable reality, it feels like we are now only a week or two away from a point where NHL games are once again, closed to fans. Rick Westhead has started the conversation and it feels like a more formal step from the Ontario government can’t be far behind. After this current three-game road trip, the Senators are scheduled to play five of six at the Canadian Tire Centre. Might be a good time to see the Sens live and in-person, if you’re comfortable with that sort of thing. And if that’s even an option by the time they return to Ottawa.
-Sure Brady Tkachuk is locked in long-term and yes, he is the Captain of the team. And yea, he’s playing some of the best hockey of his career and is the driving force behind one of the league’s hottest lines but it’s hard to truly enjoy it when we know what he really wanted was a bridge deal. At least according to every insider that stirred up trouble this summer when this negotiation was at a critical point. Look, I get it- sometimes things change in a negotiation and sometimes the information available just isn’t accurate. It would be nice if the people involved in that off-season feeding frenzy and the piling on that happened in those moments of contract uncertainty either explained why they were wrong or admitted that they were getting worked a little bit. Hmm I guess that’s not really news or a note, is it? Tuesday News, Notes and Incoherent Ramblings.
Oh…and there’s a game today!
Better keep that HEAD2HEAD table streak alive.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 8-16-1 (17 pts) | 18-5-4 (40 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.64 (26th) | 3.70 (2nd) |
| Goals Against | 3.72 (32nd) | 2.70 (T-12th) |
| Power Play | 19.0% (15th) | 18.8% (T-16th) |
| Penalty Kill | 75.3% (27th) | 81.0 (T-15th) |
| Shots For | 28.4 (29th) | 36.1 (1st) |
| Shots Against | 33.7 (30th) | 30.6 (11th) |
| Leading Scorers | Batherson- 24 pts Tkachuk- 21 pts Norris- 19 pts Chabot- 14 pts Stützle- 13 pts |
Huberdeau- 31 pts Ekblad- 24 pts Verharghe- 22 pts Reinhart- 20 pts Barkov- 18 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | Spencer Knight 6-3-2 2.98 GAA, .904 sv% |
